![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
Subject: TIP:PdoxWin:NT Configuration:2001.05.25 Tips for NT Configuration, based on newsgroup postings and other FAQ's: Version 1.0 (2000.06.09) written by Lance Leonard commented on by Liz, Dmitry Vulis, Denn Santoro edited by Paradox FAQ Team Reposted by Mike Irwin: 2001.02.10 commented on by Adam Lackie Updated by Mike Irwin:2001.02.10 Updated by Mike Irwin:2001.05.25 ==================== 0. Introduction ==================== This FAQ covers a set of tips garnered from users' experience as discussed on Paradox NewsGroups. This FAQ is appropriate to users of all versions of 32-bit Paradox for Windows (7/32, 8, 9, and later). This document was originally written in a monospaced font. To make things more easily readable you may wish to copy it into NotePad. ------------------------------- 0.1 Legal Info and Disclaimers ------------------------------- Paradox is a trademark of Corel. Borland Database Engine (BDE) is a trademark of Inprise. Windows, Windows NT, etc. are trademarks of Microsoft. The information provided in this FAQ is provided "as is" and is not warranted in any way. The information provided in this FAQ is not endorsed or authorized by Corel or Inprise in any shape, form, or manner. The editors claim NO responsibility for ANY illegal activity regarding this file, or as a result of someone reading this file. You may distribute this file, as long as the copies are complete, unaltered, and are in electronic form only. ------------- 0.2 Feedback ------------- Please send feedback in a Corel Paradox newsgroup or the news:comp.databases.Paradox newsgroup to any of the FAQ Team mentioned in the "FAQ: FAQ FAQ" document. Please preface the subject of your post with the string "PDXWIN FAQ" to alert Team members to the function of the message. Please specify the FAQ name and section number the comment applies to, if any. ============================== 1. General Problem Information ============================== Users sometimes experience problems when using Windows NT as a server machine for a network of machines running Paradox. This can be remedied by some registry changes as outlined in another FAQ. This document offers a broader range of assistance. This document should also be appropriate for users of Windows NT 5 - called Windows 2000. =============== 2. References =============== Please also refer to other FAQs, in particular: FAQ: PdoxWin: Text Full FAQ 1999.06.30 FAQ:PdoxWin:Net File Rules:2000.01.18 =============== 3. Tips =============== 1. Change the opportunistic locking on the NT server to false. You may need to add settings to the Registry to do this. In the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ LanmanSERVER\Parameters\EnableOplocks=0 (DWORD) section, change (or add) the UseOpportunisticLocking key to a value of 0 (zero, decimal). For more information, see Appendix A, which is based on a Microsoft KnowledgeBase document, and/or the FAQ on the subject. Newgroup reports suggest that this change seems to take effect even though the machine has not been restarted. 2. Create a non-root directory for the PDOXUSRS.NET file and map this directory to a drive letter. For example, T:\netdir. This needs to be visible and writeable to all users. See other FAQ: The Net Dir should never actually be the root of a drive, logical or physical. 3. Set all users' BDE configration files to use this directory as the NET DIR value. This is required for networking (see other FAQ). 4. If you wish to force each user to use the same net file, which is definitely the recommended procedure, it may help to specify this in the Paradox command-line. For example, use the following switch and path -o"T:\Netdir\idapi.cfg" You may also wish to configure each user's BDE Administrator to use this shared CFG as the default CFG file. Using a single .CFG file helps ensure that everyone has access to the same aliases, network control file settings, and so on. However, to do this, you must ensure that common areas are named the same as seen from each participating PC. 5. Each workstation should have at least 32MB of RAM or performance will very likely suffer. Also, workstations should give priority to local processes. 6. When configuring printers, it may help to set the Default printer so that a) it's captured to one of the local LPT ports (to put it another way, don't use UNC), b) it has a short name, one that does _not_ contain spaces, c) if it is a newer HP printer, it uses an earlier driver. 7. If you are using a Novell network and are using the Novell client, consider changing to the Microsoft client, uninstalling the Novell client, and deleting extra, unused protocols. (There are reports of extra protocols slowing NT down.) If you are already using the MS client, try switching to the Novell client. (Get the latest from Novell website, though. There are known issues with some earlier versions of Client32.) 8. If all of the server's clients are using Windows 9x, you may wish to consider using UNC's references instead of drive mappings. UNC's tend to run more quickly. However, if you have older versions of Paradox (7.32 or earlier) you probably won't be able to do this. If you have NT clients however, use drive mappings. 9. You may be able to improve performance by running Paradox or the application locally. While this imposes a maintenance hit, it reduces the amount of network traffic involved in loading the various files. There is a third party tool called AutoReplicator that helps manage the maintance burden. More information can be found at http://www.RDAWorldWide.Com/RDAprod.htm 10. If you are using NT4, please make sure you are using service Pack 4 or later. SP5 is not recommended. SP6 was withdrawn, but 6a appears good. Earlier service packs have been reported to have problems. 11. You will get better I/O performance from a SCSI drive on the server, rather than IDE drives. 12. There are reports that you may not want to use the IPX/SPX protocol. On the other hand, other people have experienced problems with only the MS version ! 13. Novell's latest client (Client 3.20) is reported to have some problems with the file locks, which were reported on Novell NGs. This has implications on Paradox applications as well. It may be best to remain with Client 3.10 with SP 2 (the last version prior to 3.20) which seems to give best results. 14. UNC vs Mapped Drives. You should get better performance with UNC calls in Win9x and with mapped drives in Win NT regardless of the protocols. This has to do with NT's design feature of checking ALL installed protocols for a UNC call even if it finds it on the first one. 15. You may experience extreme lethargy when using Win 98SE clients and Win NT 4 servers. In addition to the registry setting change outlines in item 1 here, you can also try, in this case, setting the following registry key on the server: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINES\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\ LanmanWorkstation\Parameters\ setting the value as follows: EnableOplocks=0 (DWORD) You may need to create both key and value. It has been reported that this may yield significant increases in speed. =-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Appendix A: An Explanation of Opportunistic Locking on Windows NT (from Microsoft Knowldgebase Article #Q129202) -- Microsoft Mail for PC Networks versions 3.0, 3.2, and 3.2a -- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation version 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0 -- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.5, 3.51, and 4.0 SUMMARY With Exclusive Oplock, if a file is opened in a non- exclusive (deny none) mode, the redirector requests an opportunistic lock of the entire file. As long as no other process has the file open, the server will grant this oplock, giving the redirector exclusive access to the specified file. This will allow the redirector to perform read-ahead, write-behind, and lock caching, as long as no other process tries to open the file. When a second process attempts to open the file, the original owner will be asked to Break Oplock or Break to Level II Oplock. At that point, the redirector must invalidate cached data, flush writes and locks, and release the oplock, or close the file. Opportunistic Locking level II, provides a method for granting read access to a file by more than one workstation, and these workstations can cache read data locally (read-ahead). As long as no station writes to the file, multiple stations can have the file open with level II oplock. MORE INFORMATION An illustration of how level II oplocks work: 1. Station 1 opens the file, requesting oplock. 2. Since no other station has the file open, the server grants station 1 exclusive oplock. 3. Station 2 opens the file, requesting oplock. 4. Since station 1 has not yet written to the file, the server asks station 1 to Break to Level II Oplock. 5. Station 1 complies by flushing locally buffered lock information to the server. 6. Station 1 informs the server that it has Broken to Level II Oplock (alternatively, station 1 could have closed the file). 7. The server responds to station 2's open request, granting it level II oplock. Other stations can likewise open the file and obtain level II oplock. 8. Station 2 (or any station that has the file open) sends a write request SMB. The server returns the write response. 9. The server asks all stations that have the file open to Break to None, meaning no station holds any oplock on the file. Because the workstations can have no cached writes or locks at this point, they need not respond to the break-to-none advisory; all they need do is invalidate locally cashed read-ahead data. The following registry entries are used to enable or disable oplocks for Windows NT workstation or server. To access the registry run REGEDT32.EXE from the File menu, choose Run in Program Manager or File Manager. WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious, system-wide problems that may require you to reinstall Windows NT to correct them. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use this tool at your own risk. ----------------------------- Workstation Service Entries \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\LanmanWorkstation\Parameters UseOpportunisticLocking REG_DWORD 0 or 1 Default: 1 (true) Indicates whether the redirector should use opportunistic- locking (oplock) performance enhancement. This parameter should be disabled only to isolate problems. ----------------------------- Server Service Entries \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Services\LanmanServer\Parameters EnableOplocks REG_DWORD 0 or 1 Default: 1 (true) Specifies whether the server allows clients to use oplocks on files. Oplocks are a significant performance enhancement, but have the potential to cause lost cached data on some networks, particularly wide-area networks. MinLinkThroughput REG_DWORD 0 to infinite bytes per second Default: 0 Specifies the minimum link throughput allowed by the server before it disables raw and opportunistic locks for this connection. MaxLinkDelay REG_DWORD 0 to 100,000 seconds Default: 60 Specifies the maximum time allowed for a link delay. If delays exceed this number, the server disables raw I/O and opportunistic locking for this connection. OplockBreakWait REG_DWORD 10 to 180 seconds Default: 35 Specifies the time that the server waits for a client to respond to an oplock break request. Smaller values can allow detection of crashed clients more quickly but can potentially cause loss of cached data. Paradox Community Newsgroups |
![]() Feedback | Paradox Day | Who Uses Paradox | I Use Paradox | Downloads ![]() |
|
![]() The information provided on this Web site is not in any way sponsored or endorsed by Corel Corporation. Paradox is a registered trademark of Corel Corporation. ![]() |
|
![]() Modified: 15 May 2003 Terms of Use / Legal Disclaimer ![]() |
![]() Copyright © 2001- 2003 Paradox Community. All rights reserved. Company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Authors hold the copyrights to their own works. Please contact the author of any article for details. ![]() |
![]() |
|